BANDWAGON

DAVID McGOLDRICK was marched through a scrum of reporters by a Sheffield United flunkey, after VAR robbed the 31-year-old of a long-awaited first Premier League goal.

“I’d like to talk about VAR, but I’d end up getting banned for 10 games,” McGoldrick quipped over his shoulder as he headed out.

He thought he had broken his duck on the hour (above) but, after a four-minute delay, his effort was chalked off because John Lundstram’s big toe had strayed offside in the build-up.

It is just the latest incidence of a marginal call early in the development of the goal going completely unnoticed by players or officials on the pitch, but nevertheless ruling out an otherwise legitimate goal after a lengthy delay.

It led to more calls for VAR to be scrapped until the system can be better implemented.

Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker tweeted: “VAR at its absurd worst rules out a Sheffield United equaliser for offside which is impossible to see one way or the other. WTF are they doing to our game? Utterly ridiculous.”

When the Premier League released a freeze-frame image of the transgression, Lineker added: “This proves nothing. Stop trying to justify these absurdities.”

George Baldock, whose pass led to the offside decision and who later added a legitimate equaliser, said: “The margin, it’s just a different-sized boot, isn’t it?

“Initially, I thought it was a goal, of course it was. And then, when they’ve checked once, I thought, ‘Still a goal’.

“When he’s checked twice and kept checking, checking, checking, I thought, ‘It must be offside’.

“When they’re doing the ‘two lines’ (below), you think it must be offside.

“For a split second, I saw how close it was on the big screen, and thought, ‘Wow, I can’t believe that!’ That was at the end of it.”